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Monday, August 3, 2009

Joystiq challenge...the results! [Last update]

Super Final Update: Yet again Jackson over at GAF clears some things up.

It was taken down because Joystiq showed too much straight footage which every other site (including Joystiq) agreed to show much less than that. So it gave them something unfair over all other sites that got the preview build. So WB was trying to be fair and told them to take it down.

Conspiracy theorists ftl?

I've watched the video, I didn't see anything "disappointing". The bull went after the red flag.The elephant clearly and obviously didn't knock all the bottles off the stand, he should have moved it. The dude sucks at using rope. And then maxwell rode the elephant which made him "cheat" by getting to close and knocking them down himself

Almost every solution worked... that should work.

It would seem nothing nefarious was going on. You'll also notice the rather snarky message Joystiq left behind is also gone. I have a feeling there was some mixup here and that perhaps not everyone knew what was going on.

Regardless, now that we know that we should be able to get the video on YouTube and put it back into the post!

Did you enter the Joystiq Challenge I mentioned last week? If you didn't, it's a bit late now, as it's over and they have composed a video of some of their favorite solutions. You can check it out below. Like the IGN solutions I'll also grade them based off of creativity and intelligence. It makes it a bit more entertaining then simply repeating everything said in the video.

Black hole: Pretty hilarious solution, in both its execution and its simplicity. Despite being creative I'd say it's not very original, so I gotta dock some points for that. Overall? 8/10. Good start!

Bull and red flag: A great and original idea, though the previewer didn't give it the love it should have gotten. We do get proof that despite the fact the flag was red and yellow, the bull knew enough to attack it. Pretty awesome. I'd be interested to try this solution with other red items, like an apple. Points for creativity, despite failing! 9/10

Grenade: Heh, I really like this one. It's simple and to the point and it looked pretty cool as well despite killing the girl. Or, perhaps, BECAUSE it killed the girl...hehe. 9/10

Steak Baby: I'm not sure what the original suggestion was, but I doubt he wanted to attach it with rope. The previewer should have used glue! We do get "confirmation" that lions can and will eat babies attached to steak. Which, uh, I guess is what we've all been waiting for. It didn't work, but it was entertaining enough. 10/10

Termite: Eh. Not very original (we've seen that solution used wherever there is wood), but it worked quickly and easily. 6/10

Flamethrower: Similar to that of termite. We've seen that suggestion a lot. Not too impressed by it. Apparently fire destroys glass, which is neat. 4/10

Horse and Mallet: I really like this idea, but I think we're all sort of understanding the limitations of the system. Things might mess up and not pan out depending on how the game interprets your command. This could have been a pretty cool solution if the previewer did it over correctly, but unfortunately it's left as a reminder that we shouldn't be thinking this game is the second coming of Christ. 10/10 for the idea alone

Elephant and Mouse: Yet another solution held back by the system. Getting a bit discouraged here! Not sure why it didn't work, as it was a fantastic idea. It seemed perhaps one bottle didn't fully make it off, and when he went to ride the elephant he got too close. Pretty lame. 15/10 for the solution itself because it really was great.

Now it may come as no surprise to you that this was the same guy in the Joystiq podcast I mentioned last week who had some pretty negative things to say. After watching him going through this video I'm inclined to agree his complaints might have some merits.

We can tell some of the failures were clearly his fault. But others? That was the game not cooperating with our imaginations. We cannot fault the game for that because it'd be an impossible task to make it work like everyone wants it to.

But it's easy to hype this game as having infinite solutions when it most certainly will not. You might have solutions fail that should have worked, but due to a glitch in the engine it messes it all up. That WILL happen, and it might happen a lot depending on your playstyle.

I think at the end he got it right: the game will reward you for being creative. It will not reward you for being convoluted. We should all probably dial back out hype and expectations lest we get burned by them.

It did seemobvious the guy still doesn't have the hang of the controls. For example, he tapped once or twice on Maxwell to move him, when we know you directly tap where you want to move. Also, with the rope, he kept grabbing it by one of its intermediate sections instead of its end. Finally, the elephant probably would have worked if he just dragged the mouse to the elephant's right to make it come back. Or not, perhaps the elephant was too tal to knock over the lower bottles.